Day 2 on the Galapagos

On our second day on our Galapagos cruise, we woke up to this view of Santiago Island.

Our first activity was a ride in the small boats in Buccaneer Cove.

Right away, we saw some Blue-Footed Boobies. They are very common here, but always fun to see.

But there were a lot more birds hanging around on the rocks, like this Galapagos Heron -

Some Nazca Boobies -

Swallow-Tailed Gulls -

And a Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron.

After our boat ride, we went back to the ship briefly to change into our bathing suits and wet suits, then went back to Buccaneer Cove for some snorkeling.

I saw lots of Yellow-Tailed Surgeonfish.

But the most interesting thing was this strange Starfish.

Then later in the morning, we had a wet landing at Espumilla Beach. Here's Mara saying hi to a pelican.

A Galapagas Hawk posed nicely for us. And this was all before lunch!

After lunch, we had another wet landing at Egas Port.

These islands on the western side of the Galapagos are the newer islands, so it involves a lot of walking on lava.

We said hi to a Lava Lizard -

Saw our first of many Sea Turtles-

And watched an American Oystercatcher. The Sally Lightfoot Crabs gave us quite a show as they scurried away. Whew! That's a lot for one day! Much more to come!